Ex Libris: George Washington

In this installment of ‘Ex Libris,’ we explore the books that influenced President Washington the most.

"Washington as a Farmer at Mount Vernon" 1851, by Junius Brutus Stearns. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. George Washington at Mount Vernon on the Potomac where he spent time as a child, farmed and finally died. Three Lions/Getty Images

Most Americans know George Washington (1732–1799) as the commander of American forces at Valley Forge, the general who defeated the British at Yorktown, and the first president of the United States. Far fewer know that Washington was largely self-educated, especially in warfare and politics.

Unlike contemporaries such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Washington never attended any institution of higher learning. Educated at home and in a local school in Fredericksburg, Virginia, he turned his talent for mathematics to surveying. During the French and Indian War, still in his early 20s, he led militia in battle. Later, with the American Revolution just underway, the Continental Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief of the newly formed army, a commission based in large part on his experience garnered during the war with the French.

Books for Battle

Yet more than experience qualified Washington for this position. He read his way into his post, consuming practical manuals on soldiering and warfare. In the online article, “George Washington’s Practical Self-Education,” the writer noted that Washington “used reading as a means to an end—he wanted to know how to farm better, how to lead an army, how to lead a country, how to conduct himself civilly. There wasn’t any other way but to read and combine it with his direct experience.”